Improvement in writing-tablets



B. BROWER.

WRITING-TABLETS. No'.`1.94,410. hunted Aug. 21,1877.

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N.PETERs, PHOTmLITHuGRAPHER. WASHINGTON, D` C.

UNITED S'rnrns BLOOMFIELD Baownn, or NEW YORK, N. Y.

IMPROVEMENT IN WRITING-TABLETS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 194,410, dated August 21, 1877 application filed luly 30, 1877.

To all 'whom 'it may concern:

Be it known that I, BLooMFrELD BRowER, of the city, county, and State of New York, have invented an Improvement in Writing- Tablets, ot' which the following is a specification: l

This invention relates to that class of writing-desk furniture or article of stationery known as Writing-tablet, which consists, essentially, in a plate or stift' board provided with means for holding one or more leaves upon its surface. Ordinarily such tablets are constructed of a rectangular base or plate formed from binders board, which is provided at its corners with pockets to receive the corners of the sheets it is'to support. This construction of tablets; while it holds the sheets it is adapted to support, does not provide for their ready displacement when others are to be substituted or the upperl sheets are to be removed. Its use is therefore usually confined to the holding of sheets ofblctting-paper, which require removal semi-occasionally only.

Other writingtablets consist ot' a base-plate having at one end a sheet-holding clamp; but these are defective for the reason that the sheets, confined at one end only, are liable to displacement in the ordinary use of the article.

The purpose of my invention is to provide an article which, while supporting the sheetsV firmly upon the base-plate, and preventing their accidental displacement either laterally or longitudinally, permits the convenient removal of one or more of them, as occasion requires 5 and it is therefore adapted to the holding of anyknd of sheets, though itis especially convenient for supporting sheets which are to be Written or drawn upon, and which, for convenience, must be readily removable Without disturbing those remaining.

The invention consists in an article composed of a base-plate, and provided with one or more confining-pockets at one end and a retaining-spring at the other, all of which will be particularly pointed out in the following description.

Myimproved device is constructed ofa-baseplate or body portion, 7, preferably rectangular in form, which may be made of binders board, pasteboard, thin slabs of wood, or'ofa thin plate of metal, rubber, or like stiif and tight material. It is provided at one end with a clamping-spring, as 2, the biting-edge of which overhangs the plate or body 7, and impinges thereon, and at the other end with a pocket or pockets 3, into which the lower edges of the sheets are entered, the said sheetsthus being confined in place by the spring 2 and pockets 3, and, while prevented from accidental displacement, may be readily detached, if it is desired to remove them.

This clamping-sprin g may extend but a sm all portion of the length of one side of the body 7 but if the article is designed to hold a large quantity of sheets, or such as are of large size,

the longitudinal dimensions of the spring 2 may be equal to the length of the side of the body or base-plate 7, upon which it is placed, as in Fig. 2 and in order that the sheets so held may be prevented from swinging upon the point by which they are held by the spring 2, and thus be displaced from their proper position upon or be detached from the tablet,

one or more pockets, 3, may be provided, to confine them by their' lower ends in a square or proper position thereon, as `in Fig. l; or a single pocket, 3, as in Fig.,2, may be employed. The sheets are thus held at two points in such a way that they must be detached from each in succession in order to be removed from the tablet; and while this may be conveniently done when it is desired to remove them, they are nctliable to accidental displacement when the tablet is in use or being moved from place to place.

The desirability and utility of this article to artists, merchants, and others who require to be able to support a number of separate slips or sheets in a mass or body, to move the same from place to place, and yet be able to readily detach one or more of the upper ones without'disturbing the rest, will be readily apparent.

In some cases, as when it is desired to support one or more sheets more permanently than the rest-as sheets of blotting-paper, schedules, price-lists, and the like-'it is preferred to sup,- ply the tablet with four confining-pockets, as

2 ioafne 3 3` 3 3 in Fig. 1. rIhis form of the device, While holding the sheets 8 more permanently than the sheets 9, which are held by the spring 2 and the lower pockets 3, still permits the convenient removal of' both, as may be required, and yet provides for the detaching of one or more of the sheets 9 Without dis-- enin g.

Having now described the construction and operation of my improved tablet, what Iclaim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. A Writing-tablet consisting of a baseplate provided at one end with a spring or clamp for securing sheets upon its surface, and at the other end with one or more confining-pockets for preventing their displacement, substantially as described.

2. A rectangular Writing-tablet provided with sheet-con'ning pockets at its corners, and with a spring or clamp upon one of itsl ends, substantially as described.

In testimony Whereof`I have signed my -name to this specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

BLOVOMFIELD BROWER.

Witnesses:

H. T.MUNsoN, -M. B. PHIL-IPP. 

